According to the House of Representatives Communications Standards Commission, a Member of Congress may not send any unsolicited mass communication less than 60 days immediately before the date of any primary or general election in which the Member is a candidate for public office. This means that, beginning September 9th, you will no longer receive email updates from us. But, if you subscribe to our newsletter now, you’ll continue to receive important updates from our office straight to your inbox.

To Our Neighbors in NY-14,

Earlier this month, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law.  The IRA is designed to reduce inflation, fight climate change, lower the cost of health care , and make the wealthiest pay their fair share. Here are some of the wins we secured in the bill: 

🌎 The funding to fight climate change will create up to 9 million jobs in clean energy and reduce carbon emissions by 40 percent. The bill is also expected to reduce utility costs by $1,025 a year, on average, by improving energy efficiency. Finally, the IRA allocates almost $60 billion for environmental justice investments in communities disproportionately harmed by climate change and pollution!

🩺There are also a handful of provisions in the IRA to lower healthcare costs. Next year, for the first time ever, Medicare will be able to directly negotiate some prescription drug prices. For those with Medicare, the bill also caps insulin to $35 for a 30-day supply, and limits out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs to $2,000 per year. We also extended health care insurance subsidies for three years to reduce monthly health insurance premiums. These enhanced subsidies, which were set to expire at the end of year, were passed as part of President Biden’s American Rescue Plan and they help lower the cost of health insurance for the nearly 13 million Americans who buy their health insurance on healthcare.gov.

💰Finally, the IRA will ask the wealthy to finally pay their fair share by providing funding for the IRS to go after wealthy tax evaders, instituting a 15% minimum tax rate on the wealthiest corporations, and imposing a 1% tax on stock buybacks used to enrich wealthy shareholders. There are no new taxes on any family making $400,000 or less, and no new taxes on small businesses.

Despite this good news, we know there’s more work to be done. We will not stop fighting for universal childcare and pre-K, housing, immigration justice, Medicare for All, and comprehensive climate solutions.

Below, we’ve included more updates from our office. As always, please don’t hesitate to contact our office if you need assistance on another matter or to share your opinion on legislation. We can be reached online or by phone at 718-662-5970.

In service,

The Office of Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez